


all my courage

by dawnsummers



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27039664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnsummers/pseuds/dawnsummers
Summary: Arthur in a moment of reflection. 5x13
Kudos: 3





	all my courage

For Camelot, Arthur would cast aside any pride he has left, and fall onto his knees and beg for blessings from the Old Gods. _For its prosperity, after I’m gone._ The one they’ve apparently given him, _Merlin_ —Merlin who is some sorcerer knight—he doesn’t know if it’s cruel or just a joke. Merlin doesn’t rip bodies from battlefields. Merlin has hands for peasant’s work. Merlin has eyes for laughter, a stomach for drinking himself sick, a future: at Arthur’s side, or with a little wife. 

Merlin’s always taken good care of him. 

He finds out his manservant’s stubborn about being his sorcerer protector like he’s been stubborn about everything else. Merlin keeps his eyes on the path in front of them, looking just like he always has but graver. Arthur watches the sun move over their heads—it's beating their time over the horizon. 

_King Arthur’s got no fight left in him_ , he thinks to whatever out there listens. Maybe the Old Gods do; maybe they forgive him for a lifetime in his father’s footsteps, chasing them out of his kingdom. It feels like he’s had a thousand fights. A thousand tournaments when he was young and the fall from his horse to the ground hurt like nothing before, a thousand times he swung that sword, a thousand times it was his sister on the other end of it. A thousand bandits, monsters, tricksters, sorcerers. _A thousand times Merlin was the thing that saved him?_

He’s got his throat to the dirt now. It feels like Albion wants to swallow him up. 

**Author's Note:**

> title insp. from caroline polacheck's ocean of tears


End file.
